Comcast Backing Appeal of Set-top Settlement Dismissal
Comcast is backing the plaintiffs suing it in saying a 2015 decision by a U.S. District judge in Philadelphia denying certification of a proposed settlement class should be reversed. In a brief (in Pacer) Monday in the 3rd U.S. Circuit…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Court of Appeals, Comcast said the District Court erred in rejecting a proposed $15.5 million settlement in a set-top box class-action lawsuit against Comcast when it said it lacks a reliable and feasible means for figuring out who falls within the class definition (see 1511060011). Those concerns "may prevent class certification in a litigation context [but] do not preclude class certification in a settlement context," Comcast said, adding the District Court wrongly applied 3rd Circuit precedent on litigation classes to the settlement class issue. "This Court has made clear that settlement classes raise different certification issues than litigation classes," Comcast said. It said that in agreeing to settle, Comcast also had agreed that claimants can prove class membership by less-rigorous methods than necessary in court. Appellants in the Comcast set-top litigation filed a similar brief in March.